All posts in the topic State of the City - Narrowing St. Paul Students Achievement Gap (Short link)
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- There are 2 posts — by 2 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Anne Carroll at Mar 24 13:30 UTC
| From | File | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Rosa Maria de la Cueva Peterson | Mar 24 12:40 UTC |
I hope Mayor Coleman can address ways city government can help narrow the educational achievement gap in the St. Paul schools. What efforts have been successful? What are some of the mayor obstacles? What is the city of St. Paul planing on doing during the coming year? Although we tend think about education as the the responsibility of school boards, municipal governments and communities can also make a difference (see the following links): How municipal leaders are engaged in education: http://www.annenberginstitute.org/Products/Engaging_Cities.php Engaging the community in innovative ways--concept of complementary education: http://democracyspace.typepad.com/democracyspaceorg/2008/01/index.html http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/complementary-learning/ bibliography.html Engaging parents: http://www.stpaulneat.org/CommunityReformResources.html http://www.parentsunited.org/ Urban education resources: http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/education/urbaneducation.html Rosa Maria de la Cueva Peterson Macalester Groveland
Just a short note to highlight some of the great work that St. Paul community members and the City of St. Paul have been doing to support St. Paul students to be successful. Communities can and often do play a huge role in public education, and St. Paulites are especially valuable. We are incredibly grateful for the strong financial support this community provided in approving the 2006 local tax referendum. While the state Legislature and Federal government are still lagging in inflationary increases, support for all-day Kindergarten, ELL, Title 1, and Special Education funding, St. Paul stepped up and closed some key gaps that allow us to provide early education and high school reform in particular. In addition, Mayor Chris Coleman, Council members, and the City of St. Paul are providing great leadership and support through a number of substantive efforts, most notably the Second Shift (before and after school) and Early Childhood Initiatives; see more information at http://www.stpaul.gov/mayor/education/. Kids and schools also benefit tremendously from the hundreds of volunteers working with students every day tutoring, mentoring, helping with homework, chaperoning field trips, figuring out college applications, supporting research, building skills, coaching, and so on. Volunteers also serve on site-based decision making councils, PTOs, districtwide committees, and other groups ensuring that everything is pointing in the same strategic directions on behalf of student achievement. Every one of these volunteers makes a difference, and we are all so grateful. We are also very lucky to live in a community where nonprofit, business, and public organizations have formed countless partnerships on behalf of students. It DOES take an entire community to make this work, and St. Paul is setting new standards not only for involvement, but for measurable impact and success. This wrap-around community support fuels the work of talented and committed teachers, staff, and administrators who care deeply about their students, are embracing professional development and best practices, and who every day go the extra mile on their own time and their own dime to do what's right for students and their future. These adult leaders make a world of difference in children's lives, and we're so lucky they chose St. Paul. All together, we're making major progress on behalf of our kids. Yes, we have a long way to go on critical gaps that should never have existed and that we absolutely must close -- but thanks so much to St. Paul for moving forward strongly in the right direction. If it can be done anywhere, we can do it here. See the St. Paul Public Schools Strategic Plan for additional information at http://www.spps.org/StrategicPlan.html.
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